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In the Habs Room: Carey Price a man of few words after loss to Capitals

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette

Publishing date:

October 8, 2017 • 4 minute read

Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his goal next to Canadiens defenceman Karl Alzner (22) during the first period of an NHL hockey game on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, in Washington. This was Ovechkin's third goal of the period and the game.Nick Wass/ AP

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WASHINGTON — Carey Price wasn’t in the mood to answer a lot of questions following Saturday night’s 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

That’s understandable considering the goalie was pulled after allowing four goals — three by Alex Ovechkin — in the first period of a 6-1 loss. Ovechkin scored a fourth goal against Al Montoya, who replaced Price, while T.J. Oshie and Nathan Walker — the first Australian to ever play in an NHL game — also scored for the Capitals. Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens.

In the Habs Room: Carey Price a man of few words after loss to CapitalsBack to video

When Price was asked if coach Claude Julien asked him if he wanted to come out of the game during the first intermission, the goalie responded with one word: “No.”

It was the right decision by Julien because Price’s teammates hung him out to dry as he faced 14 shots in the first period. Price faced 45 shots in the Canadiens’ season-opening 3-2 shootout win over the Sabres Thursday night in Buffalo.

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“I don’t think we were very sharp off the get-go, obviously,” Price said during his post-game media scrum that lasted 54 seconds. “We just needed to come out with a better effort in the first. It’s tough when you fall behind like that.

“They came out of the gun,” the goalie added. “It’s their home opener and we didn’t match their intensity. I think we’ll make our adjustments and come back better tomorrow.”

Price said he will be back in goal Sunday night when the Canadiens play the Rangers in New York (7 p.m., SN1, RDS, TSN Radio 690) to wrap up a season-opening road trip with three games in four nights. The Canadiens play their home opener Tuesday night at the Bell Centre against the Chicago Blackhawks.

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While Price was a man of very few words after Saturday’s game, veteran defenceman Shea Weber — normally a man of few words himself — stood in front of the cameras and microphones for as long as the questions kept coming.

When asked about his good friend Price, Weber said: “We left him out high and dry right from the get-go. There’s no excuse and I wish we could take it back, but we can’t.

“We’re all professionals,” added Weber, who logged a game-high 24:54 of ice time and was even in plus/minus, the only Canadiens defenceman not to finish with a minus. “Everyone’s in the NHL for a reason. We’ve got to be a lot better as a whole, as a team, not just the defence but right through the lineup. There’s no excuse. The good thing is we’ve got tomorrow to go back to work and turn it around and get back to playing the way we know how to play.”

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Julien took 19-year-old rookie Victor Mete off the No. 1 defence pairing, placing him on the third pair with 39-year-old Mark Streit, while Jordie Benn started with Weber. Mete and Streit were both minus-2, as was Jeff Petry, while Karl Alzner and Benn were both minus-1.

“We’re all professionals and we’re all in the NHL, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” Weber said about the changes in the defence pairings. “We need to be able to play with one another no matter who it is every night. Night in and night out, you got to be able to play with a different guy if you have to. We’ve got to be better.”

When asked why he dropped Mete down after his impressive NHL debut in Buffalo, Julien responded: “That’s called coaching. I make decisions … I don’t have to explain every decision that I make. But you make decisions for the sake of hopefully doing the right thing for your team.”

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Mete, Streit and Alzner are all new to the Canadiens’ blue line this season and the defence was not in synch against the Capitals, struggling at times to get the puck out of their own end.

“We had some really bad turnovers early on and they’re a team with speed and transition,” Weber said. “It wasn’t even in the neutral zone … it was exiting our own end. We were throwing pucks in the middle of the ice and those pucks were coming right back, either resulted in penalties or goals.”

Ales Hemsky, another old newcomer to the Canadiens at age 34, took two penalties (slashing and tripping) in 10:56 of ice time.

“We had some breakdowns,” Julien said. “When you spot a team three goals early like that, it’s pretty hard to come back in this league. They had a good start and we weren’t ready for that. So that’s on us. Once that game is 4-0, it’s pretty hard the rest of the way. But it was important for us to try and find our game. I thought we were much better in the second period, although the damage was done.

“I think there’s guys that can play way better than they have,” the coach added. “I think we need more players playing a little bit better in order for us to have some success. We’ve got some guys struggling right now.

“It’s early in the season. We need to learn from these things. We need to fix those things and we got an opportunity tomorrow night to go into New York and be much better.”

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